ES Views Letter of the Day: Martin McGuinness - man of war or peace?

No more gun law: Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams at Stormont in July 1999

Martin McGuinness may have supported IRA terrorism many years ago but would there have been peace in Northern Ireland without him? [“Dead: The IRA chief who turned to peace”, March 21].

He made major political steps for Northern Ireland later in his life and should be remembered for this.Katherine Rayner

I share the Government’s view that actions the IRA leader Martin McGuinness authorised from the Seventies onwards were wrong.

However, so was the treatment of Catholics from the partition of Ireland in 1922 as was the failure of UK Governments to sort out the situation in Northern Ireland until the Good Friday Agreement.Andrew Edwards

With all the praise heaped on Martin McGuinness, remember that most Northern Irish politicians never felt justified to pick up a gun.Liam Guiney